Possibly dumb question: Does anyone know if flashing the ECU accomplishes the same thing as disconnecting the battery? My plan is to record some various engine metrics with and without the tune and upgraded IC. I know disconnecting the battery is trivial, but I was just curious.

 

Are you going to do an intermediate data taking after installing the IC? Then ya, disconnect the battery. My guess is that the tune will also reset everything because that is what it does.

BTY - Got to take a nice long, hot ride yesterday. What I am finding is that it is not the drop in temp that is so noticable (only a couple of deg on the road crusing), it is the what the power comes on now. It runs like it is in sport mode even when it isn't. Boost comes on sooner and instantainiously. It pulls stronger in all gears. Crusing at 55 takes just a touch of the throttle now. I am likin' it

 

Thanks Eddie.

My PLX Kiwi arrives tomorrow, so I plan on installing the Helix IC this Friday. Man, I can't wait!

 

Are you doing the install yourself or going to have a shop do it?

I'm just curious to know what Shops are Good with Mini's in the Bay Area.
Thanks

 

I wish I could do it myself and save a couple hundred bucks, but I live in an apartment so it's not really possible.

But...I've taken my car to Bay Bridge Motors in Oakland and Jacques (the owner) is a very honest guy and knows Mini's very well.

 

Just thought I'd vouch for Jacques at Bay Bridge Motors. I take my r56 and e46 there for maintenance and he does a great job

 

Thanks Guys!!!
Does he do Coilovers and engine mods to???

Don't mean to hijack.

 

Yup installed my suspension and performed alignment. Sorry for hijack as well.

 

Thanks.

Would love a Helix FMIC.

 

So I've been playing with the Torque android application the past few days and it's a pretty useful app. I even tried the 0-60 and 1/4 mile time test while entering the freeway, I have serious wheel spin issues so I'm not going to embarrass myself by disclosing those.

Anyway, on to the more relevant info for this thread. It's been unusually cold in the Bay Area lately (highs in the upper 50's, low 60's) so when I was measuring the Intake Air Temperature and found it to be about 1-5 degrees above the ambient temperature on the stock intercooler, I thought, "Crap, maybe I didn't need a bigger IC after all!"

Then I started a few healthy 3rd gear pulls all the way to redline (um, closed track, yada yada yada) and it was INCREDIBLE how high the IAT's would spike. My highest reading was 120 ℉ which was about 60 ℉ higher than ambient. I know that people who drive their cars a lot harder than I do see even higher IAT's. The one interesting thing about the stock IC is that it recovers surprisingly quickly. That is unless you're really pushing the car over and over and heatsoak kicks in. Then it seemed like the IAT's would stay about 25 to 30 ℉ higher than ambient for well over a minute.

Anyway, I'm going to try and figure out how to datalog using Torque so I can post some graphs. I'm planning on installing the Helix IC next Friday and will share my post-install numbers.

Edit: Adding graph. I'm still playing around with the data logging feature so sorry this graph is a bit lame. I couldn't drive it too hard because the wife was in the car, but I'll add another graph as soon as I'm flying solo. The spike in boost and IAT is when I was accelerating onto the freeway. IAT's spiked to about 30 ℉ above ambient but then recovered pretty quickly (within 30 sec).

 

Thanks silhouette! Looking forward to your update after the install.

 

So I got Zeke up on the ramps and got about 5 or 6 steps in before realizing that the install is going to be a challenge without a lift. There are several steps that make it much more helpful to have the front wheels off.

Has anyone accomplished the install with the wheels on? I do have a jack and jack stands, but that option is logistically challenging in my garage.

Oh, and does anybody else in the greater PDX area want to get together to do the install?

Cheers,
JV

 

I installed mine on ramps. I had to turn the front wheels side to side while on the ramps to reach some of the fasteners, but taking the wheels off would have made the process much easier/quicker.

 

We have been getting a lot of inquiries for another group buy so we are starting a new group buy for those of you who are interested in buying an intercooler for the hot summer months and/or missed out on our last GB

 

Great news! what would the group rate be? Same as last time?

 

Get on this now people, it's not just great for performance but it's good insurance for your motor.

 

yeah... ok... I'm in sign me up...

 

Dez,

Yes same pricing as before. Price breaks are all on the first page

 

Um, also, pay me lots of money people, that's also somehow good for at least 20 HP.

(Let's see how well that works)

 

Haha sure where do I send the check? Haha jk... Although it almost worked

But in all seriousness Ralph, how do I get u my deposit?

 

Just call him up, say you want in on the NAM group buy and have your credit card ready.

Dave

 

if we sign up for this one about how long will it be before we get the intercooler and can install it?

 

The last group buy started in December last year, I joined the buy in February and I got my intercooler in the middle of May.

Dave

 

Yeah that last one was agony. But the wait was worth it. I think it really depends on how quickly people put their deposits in to get to the top tier discount (20+). Although Helix mentioned getting it for the hot summer months, so that might imply this GB will end sooner? Or maybe they meant summer of 2012. j/k Helix guys - please don't take my IC away.

 

Helix is good people with good business practices. Anyone who hasn't jumped on the first group buy should definitely jump on this one. The FMIC is an excellent product and provides results as advertised. I'm in the bay area and temps have been high 50s low 60s, and my intake manifold temps have been just a few degrees above ambient.

On another note, I installed mine using jack stands with the wheels on. I turned the wheels inward on the side I was working on. The install took about 3 hours.